Wrocław, Poland 🇵🇱 2022

Date: 15th August 2022

Travelled: 210 kms from Bautzen, Germany to Wrocław, Poland

Visited: Wrocław

Stayed: Wrocław Olimpljski Stellplatz, €20, N51.11740, E17.09090

Budget: 82 days @ €108 per day

Looking out the Hymer’s window this morning we can see several more campers have arrived in Bautzen since we went to bed last night. The air-conditioning made for a comfortable night once again.

We do the usual housekeeping things including giving the Hymer a vacuum before we get ready for the road. As we plan to pop over into Poland for a few days we should re-fill the Hymer’s LPG system as it’s been 6 weeks since we last topped it up.

Lastly as we drive out of town a quick Lidl stop for a couple of essentials.

A few kms east of Bautzen there’s a 20 km long traffic queue from some roadworks. There are only a few vehicle heading east like us, but a constant stream heading west.

Just before the Polish border near Gorlitz, Pam has found a Birkenstock factory outlet. So we take the exit ramp, the Birkenstock Betula factory is large and being expanded by the look of it. We find the factory outlet and come away with some a couple of pairs.

Back to the highway a little poorer…Some nature crossings and a bridge on Poland’s A4.

A couple of hours later we leave the safety of the highway and join the mid-day traffic in Wrocław. It’s a large sprawling city, the forth largest in Poland. Despite the challenges of trams going this way and that and car merging without warning we arrive at the campsite and find a very nice spot in the shade. We catch our breath and relax for an hour before walking up to the tram stop.

The girl at the campsite office tells us to take a #9 or #17 from the stop across the road and soon enough we are on our way to the old town. The tickets are 4.5zt pp, no seniors unfortunately but it less than A$3. The 5 kms journey takes 20 minures.

We get out at a large square called, Plac Nowy Targ and go exploring. Our first stop is the Church of Mary Magdalene. It’s another immense gothic building in red brick, it dates to the 14th century. Although we can get in the church the nave is locked with a sign telling us it will reopen after services. It was interesting to note both spires were originally much taller as each was topped with large copper baroque copula.

They were removed from the towers by the Germans in 1945 as the Red Army approached the city. The war was lost and so were the copula.

It’s only a short walk on to the Old Town Hall which stands in the middle of the city square. Our guide book tells us it took 200 years to build, being finished in 1504. The clock tower took another century on top. The detail along with the astronomical clock was added in 1580.

We walk the square that surrounds the town hall. It’s amongst the most beautiful we’ve scene on our travels. Cannot get over how many people are wandering about. Obviously there mostly local people out with their families. I stop and ask at an information spot, to be told its Assumption Day, a public holiday. The explains why the church was closed earlier, but we are disappointed to find the Museum of Bourgeois Art at the Town Hall is also closed for the holiday, such is life.

In one corner of the square we find these joint buildings called Hansel and Gretel, pictured below. More than likely it’s a tourist thing, but this smaller square off the main square is very pretty. That’s St Elizabeth’s Church in the background, our next stop.